What happen to the op ? I try not to post long articles in another members topic . I found a update . The editor made the Print large . a barely audible voice, 23-year-old Brittney R. Downing for the first time Wednesday publicly admitted guilt in the deaths of her two children, a baby daughter 3 months old and a son, 20 months, who was the first to die.

The former high school academic standout and scholarship college student showed little emotion in a Henrico County Circuit Court proceeding that lasted barely 30 minutes.

But her lawyer, Vaughan Jones, said after court that a three-hour sentencing hearing in March, which could bring Downing up to 25 years in prison, "will reveal a heartbreaking ordeal for everyone involved."

Downing, who remained free on $130,000 bond Wednesday, was a devoted, caring mother, Jones said, who adored her children and fatally tried to balance her independence as a single mother, her need for work and an inability to find help with child care in May last year.

Henrico Commonwealth's Attorney Shannon Taylor told the court Wednesday that the two children were kept in a locked car in the parking lot of a Henrico hotel where Downing worked and that, despite moderate temperatures that did not exceed 73 degrees outside, the children's body temperatures reached levels that caused their brains to swell and bring on severe neurological distress.

Downing's son, Jelani, 20 months, apparently was dead by the time Downing reached her home that Sunday, May 26, after work.

Downing's infant daughter, Jade, died four days later while on life support at a hospital. The infant survived longer because her skull, which had not fully formed, was better able to accommodate her swelling brain, Taylor said.

Downing, accompanied by sheriff's deputies, was able to see her deceased children the day before their funeral.

But Taylor, relying on witness accounts, described the young woman's demeanor as flat with no affect at her apartment as family members and a roommate became distraught in the wake of what was unfolding May 26.

Taylor called the pleas to involuntary manslaughter charges, reduced from felony murder indictments carrying up to 40 years each, appropriate given the circumstances of the case.

She said she sympathizes with Downing's predicament but said Downing also showed a reckless disregard for the welfare of the children and is responsible for their deaths.

Downing also faces a child endangerment charge stemming from her admission that she had on a previous occasion left the infant in the car alone at the same hotel. She had begun working there just days before the May 26 incident.

"What happened in court is justifiable given the facts of this case," Taylor said. The plea agreement leaves Taylor free to ask that the maximum allowable punishment be imposed.

Dressed in a black suit and high heels, Downing was accompanied Wednesday by her father and mother, former military personnel who operate a Hopewell storefront church and live in a middle-class suburb near Colonial Heights.

Neither parent testified Wednesday, but Jones said he will summon numerous witnesses at the sentencing hearing March 26, many of whom wrote letters of support for Downing when she was granted bond in August.

Among the letters was one from a minister who described Downing, a Thomas Dale High School graduate and scholarship engineering student in college, as "an overwhelmed young mother" whose role in her children's deaths were "in no way committed in malice or intention to cause harm

I don't get the whole choosing to be a single parent logic. While I agree that people need to be careful as far as having kids before they are ready for them, no person knows how the other parent will be as far as helping to take care of their children. Yes, she was dumb as hell for popping out a SECOND baby from the guy though (if in fact the kids are from the same guy and the father of her kids is really a deadbeat dad since I dont know what lead to her being a single parent).

In many case they do. If somebody is messing with an ain't sheit boyfriend, 9/10 he will be an ain't sheit father. But the cases in which the father tricks the woman into thinking that he really wants a child are the cases that suck.

Obviously her family situation is bad if she could not count on family to babysit while she went to work.

Another example of irresponsible sex if she got knocked up with 2 babies at her age ... where she knew did could not provide for them so she would end up leaving them in odd places ALONE instead of hiring help.

Should have had responsible sex and not gotten knocked up at all or had an abortion within the first month or two when the baby was the size of a pea.

Instead she brought those 2 innocents lives into the world (who knows what else they suffered at her hands) just so that they could die a horrible death like that.

Fry her.

I don't understand when people talk like this. Your observation is already after the fact that she had the kids. She probably had a good job before having the kids and lost it after the kids were born. YES she is wrong for leaving the innocent babies in the car but how can you chastise and say she should've had protected sex knowing the article states the kids are 20 months and 3 months already here in the world.

doesn't matter, it's still irresponsible

and i think PI did that to counter the sympathetic tone of the article which i totally understand

Obviously her family situation is bad if she could not count on family to babysit while she went to work.

Another example of irresponsible sex if she got knocked up with 2 babies at her age ... where she knew did could not provide for them so she would end up leaving them in odd places ALONE instead of hiring help.

Should have had responsible sex and not gotten knocked up at all or had an abortion within the first month or two when the baby was the size of a pea.

Instead she brought those 2 innocents lives into the world (who knows what else they suffered at her hands) just so that they could die a horrible death like that.

Fry her.

I don't understand when people talk like this. Your observation is already after the fact that she had the kids. She probably had a good job before having the kids and lost it after the kids were born. YES she is wrong for leaving the innocent babies in the car but how can you chastise and say she should've had protected sex knowing the article states the kids are 20 months and 3 months already here in the world.

Bruh responses and opinions like this are the reason why the world is going to sh*t. I'm thoroughly tired of people coddling women who make the MISTAKE of having kids they can't afford or duly provide for. Maybe if she had been told to keep her legs closed until she could provide for her kids in a fashion that would not have resulted in their painful deaths, one life could have been spared. This woman killed her kids. They already started off at an immediate disadvantage with no father in the picture because of mama's actions but now they're dead -_-.

agreed.

im not against being a single parent or a poor parent, but i'm way against being an unprepared parent. life happens but she was 23 with a 2 yr old and an infant. she shouldn't have put herself in that position. she knew what she was walking into and i refuse to believe otherwise. it's not that hard to avoid fcked up situations. she went to college, so we can't play the uneducated card. I could've had children by now but i'm a realist and realistically it would not work yet. why is this concept so hard for people? now two kids are dead, to add to the millions who are starving and neglected by ill-prepared and deadbeat parents.

the mothers getting upset in this thread are not understanding this....i dont even feeling like they are trying

I wonder if her health issuses contributed to her lack of good judgement ? My parents never really discuss sex with me as a teen except for pregnancy warnings . Thank God i waited until after the age of 18 after i found out how to protect myself the first time . The girl will suffer no matter what happens for the rest of her life . Poor babies .

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